cmd.exe will not accept font size

Running cmd.exe straight from the run dialog I can change background color with either "Defaults" or "Properties." However, changing the font size has no effect. I changed the font to Consolas but can't get it beyond tiny. Also, both of the commands produce an error message: "Point size shouold be between 5 and 72." After clicking ok several times the error message stops and the settings window appears. After selecting a size (14 pt) and exiting the routine, there is no change in the font and the same sequence will take place again if I try to adjust the font.

This has happened through several versions of Win 10. Presently using 14931. Is there a bug in cmd.exe? Is there a later version that can be downloaded?

Oh, and what's the difference between "Defaults" and "Properties"?

. . . I made a shortcut to cmd.exe, which allows me to change parameters. These changes stick, probably because they are applied each time the program is started. This led me to believe that there are command line parameters for cmd.exe and, after running help, sure enough, there they are. So in a way my problem is abated. But I'd still like to know why Cmd.exe won't change its font size from within.

tcebob

It may be a problem in how it is accessed, I find it quite customizable if a Shortcut is created to it then use Properties of that shortcut/icon to make changes such as Font color, Font size, background, etc. The path for the shortcut is C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe. Forgot to post the screenshot, shows a 24-pt. Font [same as you mentioned] with yellow text on a blue background. The window sizes can be customized as desired.
Attachment 110052

Hey, Burton! Appreciate your immediate response. I already had a shortcut but, to be safe, I made a new one. Jimmied the color and font to taste and ran it. Color came out great but font was still tiny. Then I edited the shortcut to run as administrator and, voila, the font looks good. But I have to avoid Properties in Cmd because font changes simply don't take.

I found an interesting post in Superuser http://superuser.com/questions/68343...rompt-defaults. Look for Comment 2, about half way down. Apparantly there are master shortcuts for cmd.exe. (There used to be registry entries but they are (1) inscrutable and (2) not used in Win 10.) I tried changing those shortcuts but have not yet made them run as admin.

tcebob

I've made both types on my desktop, had to be sure to name one different such as Command Prompt Admin and the other just Command Prompt. There is a choice in Properties, Advanced button [lower right] to set Run as administrator so I put a checkmark in that for the Admin version.

But to reiterate, it's creating a shortcut then changing its Properties, not the cmd.exe file itself.

Berton

I didn't mean to suggest that the cmd.exe file could be altered. I did go into Group 3 and changed the 2 shortcuts to Admin. Did not alter the response from running cmd. Although, somehow, the program starts with a green screen instead of the stock black. Changing the color and font from within has no effect. I assume that the "default" settings are supposed to make ui settings permanent, but they don't on my system. How they accomplish this is very likely to be by way of the shortcuts in Group 3, since changing an exe on the fly would be impossible. However, I'm fine with running cmd as an administrator.

Thanks again for your comments.
tcebob

tcebob said:

Running cmd.exe straight from the run dialog I can change background color with either "Defaults" or "Properties." However, changing the font size has no effect. I changed the font to Consolas but can't get it beyond tiny. Also, both of the commands produce an error message: "Point size shouold be between 5 and 72." After clicking ok several times the error message stops and the settings window appears. After selecting a size (14 pt) and exiting the routine, there is no change in the font and the same sequence will take place again if I try to adjust the font.
This has happened through several versions of Win 10. Presently using 14931. Is there a bug in cmd.exe? Is there a later version that can be downloaded?
Oh, and what's the difference between "Defaults" and "Properties"?
. . . I made a shortcut to cmd.exe, which allows me to change parameters. These changes stick, probably because they are applied each time the program is started. This led me to believe that there are command line parameters for cmd.exe and, after running help, sure enough, there they are. So in a way my problem is abated. But I'd still like to know why Cmd.exe won't change its font size from within.
tcebob

Hi tcebob - I have the exact same problem, i.e. "Point size should be between 5 and 72", and I think I may have found the reason.

My 13" laptop screen is 1920x1080 resolution so the fonts are tiny. So, in "Display Settings", I have set "the size of text, apps and other items" to 150%.

I think this may be the reason why the command prompt window (or "DOS box") won't let me change the font size to certain values. The values that work are all exactly divisible by 3.

When I change the font size to 24, the new DOS Box properties shows a font size of 16.
When I change the font size to 18, the properties show it to be 12.
When I change the font size to 14, and then try to look at the properties, I get the "Point size should be between 5 and 72" pop-up. The Properties window then shows a blank field for the Size parameter.
So the number needs to be divisible by 3 to account for the 150% size increase I specified in "Display Settings": Windows needs to reduce the specified font size by one third because when it gets displayed it will be increased by 50%.

I just decided to do the acid test: I reduced the "Display Settings" value for "size of text, apps and other items" back to 100%. The fonts and icons are ridiculously small, but the good news is that all font sizes work perfectly in the DOS Box - no more pop-ups about the point size.

So, basically, Microsoft has messed up. I may post about it on "answers.microsoft.com", but I'll probably get some MS MVP giving the usual: "This is by design, blah, blah, blah."

This issue has also given me problems with another program I regularly use that can manipulate the size of a program's window, and can move the window to a specific screen position. What I have to do is reduce the specified pixels by one third for the result to be as desired.

I hope this helps and please comment if your text size is not 100%, especially if changing it back to 100% fixes the issue.